1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to checking the residual stresses in wheels equipping railway wheelsets.
2. Discussion of the Background
At regular time intervals the wheels equipping railway wheelsets are subjected to checks which especially consist in measuring the residual stresses in the rims.
In order to do that, the surface of the rims is locally ground. A transverse-wave ultrasound feeler, oriented in a first direction then oriented in a perpendicular direction is applied to the ground surface, the thickness of the rim is measured and the difference in speed of the ultrasonic waves between the two perpendicular orientations is determined.
All these operations are carried out manually and are relatively slow, which is a drawback when there are a great number of wheels to be checked.